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Will legislators get raises?

By Colin A. Young, State House News Service

Updated:
12/15/2016 08:17:26 AM EST

BOSTON -- The eyes of the Legislature are beginning to focus on the Corner Office, where Gov. Charlie Baker is due to rule by early January on whether the 200 elected state lawmakers will get a raise in 2017.

The decision isn't entirely up to Baker -- he is required under the constitution to adjust legislative pay based on changes in the state's median family income over the last two years -- though lawmakers won't get a pay bump without his OK.

Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said Tuesday he expects that the Republican governor will approve a boost from the current base pay of just more than $60,033 for the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

"There hasn't been a cost-of-living increase in eight years for state legislators and so when the governor proposes his increase -- which I assume there will be because the economy has improved, median family income has improved in the commonwealth so it would only be fair -- I expect there will be an outcry about that, too," Rosenberg said Tuesday on Boston Herald Radio after first talking about a recent pay increase for House staffers.

While technically considered a full-time Legislature, the work pattern on Beacon Hill enables lawmakers to supplement their incomes with outside work. The Legislature holds lightly attended informal sessions for at least six months during each two-year session.

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During the other 18 months, there are periodic committee hearings and formal sessions are held in each branch about once a week, although lawmakers and their staffs are obligated to address constituent concerns and district affairs as they occur. Formal sessions are more frequent during annual budget deliberations and the biennial completion of formal sessions has typically been marked by marathon sessions featuring rapid voting, confusion and some chaotic moments.

Rosenberg said it would only be fair to give state reps and senators a raise because "it would be the first in eight years and virtually everybody else in the economy has gotten an increase, even if it's just an increase in the minimum wage."

While most lawmakers receive additional pay associated with assignments given to them by legislative leaders, their base pay has only fallen since 2009, the last time the biennial review led to a base pay increase for lawmakers.

Massachusetts lawmakers earn a base salary of just over $60,000 a year, with additional stipend pay depending on whether they chair a committee or are assigned special duties by legislative leaders. Stipends range from $7,500 for a committee chairman to $25,000 for the Ways and Means chairs, and $35,000 for the speaker and Senate president.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo told the News Service that he has spoken with Baker about the legislative pay adjustment, but only to note that the deadline was approaching. The speaker said there has been "no lobbying effort or anything else like that," and that he expects the governor to make a decision after looking at all the facts.

"All we ask is that the governor follow the economic factors that he's allowed to to make a decision accordingly and fairly," he said. He added, "it is what it is in terms of the factors that he has to consider, it's ultimately up to him."

Under the constitution, Baker must rule by the first Wednesday in January of odd-numbered years -- Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017 -- on the size of pay adjustments for the 200 members of the state Legislature.

"The administration is in the process of evaluating this constitutional provision and has made no determinations to date," Baker press secretary Billy Pitman told the News Service on Tuesday.

The constitution requires that the base compensation of lawmakers "be increased or decreased at the same rate as increases or decreases in the median household income for the commonwealth for the preceding two year period, as ascertained by the governor."

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